Reid had sounded reserved when Jane called him to meet for a picnic lunch by the dock, but she hadn’t asked any questions. She sat at a picnic table under a large water oak tree overlooking the water. Pete had already eaten all the fish she’d brought while she waited for Reid, and the big bird sat on a piling, watching her with an intent expression.
“All gone.” She rinsed her hands in the water and dried them on a napkin.
Reid’s SUV pulled into the parking lot, and she waved before unpacking the bag of sub sandwiches, chips, beignets, and sweet tea.
She drank in the sight of him in khaki shorts and a red tee. His straight black hair stood up on end from the salt-laden breeze. His smile surfaced when he saw her, and he hurried to join her.
He dropped a kiss on her lips. “Did you get my text about the new aide for Olivia? She’s coming this afternoon so Megan can go to cheerleading practice.”
“That’s great. I got a text from her a little while ago, and she’s doing fine. Rebecca’s getting out of the hospital this afternoon. Mild concussion and she’ll need to rest, but she will be fine too.”
“Any more thoughts on that nuclear device? I’m worried who has it.”
She handed him a meatball sub. “Me too. I sent Jackson out to the island to talk to Gabriel. Even though it’s unlikely he has it—not when he wanted those pictures.”
“What did you do all morning?” His lids came down, and she could tell he didn’t want to talk about it. “What?”
“Your dad wanted me to go with him to see Will. I had to accompany him because of regulations.”
She couldn’t help the stab of jealousy. Why hadn’t her dad called her? “What was that all about?”
“He wanted to tell Will he knew how hard it was to be accused unjustly. Your dad feels more things than he ever reveals.”
“And he couldn’t open up in front of me. I get it. He’s like a clam protecting its pearl.” She shouldn’t let it bother her, but it hurt that her dad never seemed able to talk to her.
“Anyway, I think it helped Will, and that’s the important thing.”
“It is. Did you tell him about the radioactive material?”
Reid shook his head. “There wasn’t time.”
“I should talk to Dad about it. Maybe he knows something.”
“And what about calling your mom? She has to know about it. Kim should have told us about it when we were there.”
Jane felt a little sick, but she knew it was necessary. “I’ll give her a call.”
She wrapped her sub sandwich back up to keep it from drying out. A squirrel ran along the grass, taunting Parker, who went over to investigate. The breeze wafting up from the water cooled her forehead.
She called her mother’s number. “I’m not sure she’ll answer.”
“She’s already talked to you, so maybe she’ll quit avoiding you.”
“Hello?”
The answer in Jane’s ear surprised her, and she couldn’t choke out any words at first. “Mom? I-It’s Jane. Something has happened here, and I need to ask you a couple more questions.”
“I told you no good would come of those pictures.” Her mother’s voice was terse. “What’s happened?”
“Where do I start? My son is being charged with a murder he didn’t commit, and someone stole the pictures before I could give them to Gabriel. I know about the radioactive material, but it’s missing. Someone took it just yesterday. Who else knows about it?”
Her mother gasped. “Are you remembering more from the three days in the woods?”
“Only part of it. Tell me everything that happened, Mom. And who is behind this.”
“I-I can’t. It’s for your own good, Jane. He’s too powerful. He’ll destroy you. I didn’t step out of your life fifteen years ago to protect you only to have him undo all my sacrifice.”
“You sound scared. Who is he, Mom? He can’t be that scary. Not when we lived with Moses.”
“Moses was a two-bit wannabe. You have no idea of how ruthless this guy is. He could snap his fingers and you’d disappear. No one would have any idea where you went.”
“Gabriel?”
Her mom barked out a bitter laugh. “Gabriel is a bumbling clown. He only wants to be tough.”
“He knew about the safe-deposit key though. I could see him breaking in to steal the pictures and the map.”
“Have you talked to him to see if he stole them?”
“Not yet. And why did you make the map? If you were helping Moses run guns, wouldn’t he already know where they were? Why were they hidden all these years?”
“Moses bought the radioactive material and had Gabriel hide it along with the bricks of plastic explosives. But neither of them knew I saw what they’d buried. I overheard them talking about how much money they could make, but they planned to hold on to it for a while and sell it to the highest bidder. I couldn’t have that on my conscience. You and I moved it and the guns that night, and I made a map of where I buried it.
“I had a little time, but I knew once they went to get it, they’d know I had to have taken it. I saw Gabriel go back to the woods a couple of years later, and I knew my time at Liberty’s Children was up. The group had mostly dispersed anyway. I hightailed it out of there that same night. I’d heard later that Gabriel had gone to Kentucky, and I hoped that meant he’d forget all about me.”
There was no mistaking her mom’s fear of the mastermind, but Jane couldn’t summon any pity for her. She could have called the cops as soon as she’d found it. There were so many other ways this could have played out.
“If it’s gone, who took it?” her mother asked.
“I guess I’ll have to figure that out.” Jane ended the call and told Reid what her mother had said. “She doesn’t see Gabriel as a threat, but I’m not convinced yet.”
Reid touched her arm. “I just got a text from Elliot. He wants to talk to us.”
“What about?”
“Something about Lauren’s investigation, but he wanted us to come by.”
“We’re at a dead end until Jackson reports in anyway. Let’s go.”
The task in front of her seemed hopeless. Was she going to fail Will?
* * *
The breeze had died and the sun was hot on Reid’s face when he got out of the SUV at Elliot’s houseboat. The water was choppy today after the storm, and the ropes holding the boat in place creaked against the pilings.
Elliot rose from his deck chair when Reid and Jane reached the gangway. He seemed steady, and his eyes were alert as he came to meet them. “You got here fast.”
Reid let Jane and Parker board first. “You said it was important.”
“Come on in, and I’ll show you. I found some emails and a contract in a weird folder that I hadn’t seen before.”
They followed him into the houseboat. Reid looked around. “You must be feeling better. You cleaned the place up.”
“I’m going stir-crazy. I want to get back to work, and the doctor just released me. When are we starting another documentary?”
“As soon as Will is cleared.”
“It’s definitely interesting.” Elliot gestured to the sofa. “Have a seat. I made two copies, one for each of you. The names and emails have been stripped out, and these were saved in a hidden folder on the Cloud drive I hacked into.”
Reid took the paper Elliot handed him and scanned it. Parker lay down at Jane’s feet.
Elliot handed a sheet of paper to Jane. “Let’s cover the contract first. There’s a shell company I located in the Bahamas that invested money in the Briscoe lab.”
“Nora, my forensic tech, discovered the corporation’s name, but that’s all she found out so far. This is the contract?”
“Yes, and it says if Gail reveals the partner’s name, the contract is null and void and all monies invested would need to be returned within thirty days.”
“The guy was majorly paranoid,” Reid said.
The language was a little hard to follow, so he was glad Elliot was condensing it for them. “This was dated two months ago.”
“Yes, and Gail was about to go under when the money came through.”
“Why would this guy fund her I wonder?”
“Hard to say. There’s nothing mentioned about that.”
So this wasn’t any more than Nora had discovered, but Reid didn’t want to burst his bubble. “Okay.”
“That’s the least of the information.” Elliot passed over more papers. “Gail had evidence about a plan to kill someone. The emails are vague, but there’s enough there to scare the guy, I’m sure.”
Reid looked over the paperwork and noticed the word bomb. “Jane, look at page three. Dated a week before Gail died.” He studied the paragraph, then read it aloud. “‘Lauren let slip what you’re planning, and I think it’s brilliant. Scary but brilliant. I plan to be far away when it happens though, and I’ll need money to live. I’m sorry to say our lab is going to be shut down, so I need to disappear if you don’t want your name revealed.’”
Jane touched a finger to the page. “She says something on down about a bomb. Did you see that? Two paragraphs down past her talking about her trouble with the lab.”
Reid jumped down a couple of paragraphs. “‘Everything you’re planning will go up in smoke with that bomb.’”
He looked up at Elliot. “We’ve discovered someone is after some radioactive material in a lead box. This might be the guy.” He returned his attention to the paper. “‘I already have a letter ready to go if you don’t see your way to helping me out. Two hundred thousand will set me up somewhere in South America, and I’ll never say a word about your dirty bomb. You’ll never hear from me again, and I’m sure that’s the way you’d prefer to keep it. So would I.’”
Elliot winced. “A dirty bomb. That’s been a big fear for a long time. Why would anyone want to use one?”
Reid had no answer to that question. No sane person would even think of it. He gazed at the paper again. “Looks like the guy is agreeing. He says he’ll put the money in a Swiss bank account on June 1.”
“Two days after she’s killed,” Jane said. “That can hardly be coincidence.”
“No,” Reid agreed.
Jane’s face paled. “Stolen radioactive material was bad enough. But actual nuclear contamination? Inconceivable.”
“Let’s talk to your dad. If anyone knows what went on out in that compound, he does. The man who keeps more secrets than the CIA may be the only one who can give us some direction.”